No Coincidance
by espadaknight4
Summary: A crossover of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantsy: VII, XIII, IX; Bleach;FMA; and some OCs. Hope, Xion, Axel, and Riku Estheim are orphaned and move to Destiny Islands. Venqua, Sokai, Rokushi, Ichihime, ect.I suck at summaries and titles. I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1

"Get up you lazy bum!" a young girl shouted. Her hair was jet-black and short, with bangs on the left side of her head.

"Hope, you idiot, we're gonna be late to school! On our _first_ day!" A boy with silver hair looked up at her, looking like he didn't sleep at all.

"Xion, can you go without me? I just wanna sleep…"

Xion growled, "Well, I'll just go get big brother!" She darted out the door, "Axel, Hope won't get up!"

A red-head with spiky hair walked in, looking pissed off, "Damnit, Hope! Get up, you're gonna go to school whether you want to or not!"

Hope's eyes widened, "Oh, no, no, no, no—"The sheets were pulled from beneath him, and he went flying. Xion shuddered at the sound of a loud crash.

Another silver-haired boy came in, "Ugh, Damnit, Axel! That's the 5th table this year; you need to stop getting him up that way!"

"Don't talk to me that way, I'm 9 years older than you, respect your elders, got it memorized?"

Hope mumbled as he left the room, "I'm up, happy? Ow, that really hurt…"

Hope, Riku, Xion, and Axel had moved to Destiny Islands over the summer, not long after being orphaned. They were lucky that Axel was 25, and became their legal guardian. They didn't like the thought of living in an orphanage, separated from each other. Axel wasn't home often, though. He had a girlfriend a girl named Shannon. Xion and Hope were just glad that he didn't date Larxene, who was constantly flirting with Axel, even the day after his parents died. Shannon had been sympathetic, being so kind to them and even trying to help. Xion, Riku, and Hope were glad to see Axel so happy. A month after being orphaned, they moved and started acting lively again, but Hope wasn't the same. They didn't know anyone in their new town, and Xion was exited to try the paopu fruit when she finally got a boyfriend. They were siblings, but they barely looked alike. Axel and Xion knew that they took after their grandparents, Rukia and Renji, who, strangely, have no records of ever existing. Riku and Hope took after their mom, Nora.

"Oh, by the way, Snow's gonna take you three to school."

_Snow_._ Oh crap._ Snow was like a brother to them, but he was a pain sometimes. In 3rd grade, Hope had liked a girl named Marlene, but one day, Snow ran in screaming "Hey Hope, your mom aid not to forget your floaties in swimming lessons, and she said don't talk to strangers, and don't forget to eat your vegetables!" Until 4th grade, people were calling him a "momma's boy". He wanted to strangle Snow then. In 6th grade, he liked a girl named Raquel. Then Snow came in, yelling "Hope, I've got more band-aids for you, we really need to keep you away from knives!" Hope was called an "emo cutter", and classmates gave him _razors_ for Christmas, and an actual emo, named Ulquiorra, who was in 7th grade, was pissed, because they gave him razors, too! Hope was so pissed off then, he wanted to mutilate Snow! Yup, Snow was like his embarrassing older brother. Looks like he'll embarrass Hope again today. Oh joy.

A woman with strawberry blond hair stood, looking frustrated, by a door. She kicked it again. "Damnit! Those brats…" She elbowed the door.

"Hey, Cloud, they barricaded the door with the dresser! A hand, please?" A blond man who looked a little like her came over and sighed.

"They really hate school, huh, Lightning?"

They looked at each other and body-slammed the door, opening it. In the room lied 4 bunk beds, and 4 sleeping teens.

Lightning became furious "Sora! Roxas! Vanitas! Ventus! You lazy bums, the #$% are you doing in bed! Get up before I #$%ing kill you! I'll throw you four out the window in a heartbeat, you know I will!"

A brunette with blue eyes sat up, "Light, what kind of thing is that to say to your brothers? I am so hurt…"

"Quit acting like a little girl, you moron!" replied a boy who looked just like Sora, except had black hair and yellow eyes.

"Oh really? You're not a nice sibling, either, Vanitas!" shot the blonde boy, Ventus, who the only difference between him and Roxas was that his wristband had white edges.

"Stop complaining, I'm getting up. I advise you do the same," said Roxas.

"Good. At least one of you is acting mature. Even Serah left already," said Cloud.

Lightning grinned. "Hey guys, I know what'll get you up, cousins Edward and Alphonse sent us a letter from their trip," she held up a letter. Sora, Vanitas, and Ventus' eyes widened. They admired their cousins, who were famous alchemists, which was amazing. Ed and Al were the only ones in their family who could perform any alchemy. Sora and his brothers ran into the bathroom to get ready, eager to read the letter.

Cloud sighed. They'd have to read the letter while walking, otherwise they'd be late. Sora and his brothers were 15, 10th graders, so they're in high school. Lightning and Cloud were in college, which was right next to the high school, conveniently. The brothers came out and they all left for school.

Hope was shocked. He couldn't believe what was happening. Snow was…Snow was _quiet_. He wasn't saying _anything._ He wasn't embarrassing Hope, or telling stupid jokes, he was silent. Something _had_ to be wrong. Xion broke the silence.

"Snow, you're…you're not talking."

Snow grinned. "Xion, Riku, Hope…I'm in _love_."

The trio gasped, and in unison, yelled "WHO!"

Snow grinned again. "A girl named Serah. She's so pretty and sweet…but her older sister's a freaking _psycho, _but she's not important. I'm gonna marry Serah one day…"

"Oh, how sweet! True love, I wanna experience that one day~" Xion said happily. Hope and Riku rolled their eyes.

"Hey, Snow. What's the high school like? What're the teachers like?" asked Hope.

"Well, kiddo, they aren't mean…they're a little…crazy."

"_Crazy_?"

"Yeah…crazy. But in a good way, don't worry. The only ones to worry about are Dr. Vexen and Professor Hojo. They are _sick_ and _twisted_. They _still _haunt me in my nightmares."

The trio shivered. They prayed they didn't get either of those teachers.

They were crossing the tracks as the train started coming. They ran across to the other side as the bars went down, when Xion's eyes widened. "Where's Hope?"

They turned around. Hope's shoe was stuck to the track, and the train was fast approaching.

"No!" screamed Snow.

The train passed by, fear etched to Riku and Xion's faces. There was no time for them to get anywhere near him! There was no way he could've gotten away! The train was gone. And so was Hope…

… He was off the tracks, a few feet away from them, with a strawberry blonde woman holding him in her arms.

"Hope!" Xion yelled as she ran over and hugged him, tears in her eyes.

Snow looked shocked. "Lightning? How'd you save him so fast?"

Xion looked at Snow, "You know her?"

"Yeah, she's Serah's psycho sister!" _***try saying **_**that**_** 5 times fast***_

Lightning walked over to him and punched him in the face, "'Psycho' am I? I'll show you psycho!" she growled as she as she punched him again and again.

Hope was just staring at her, Lightning, the girl who saved his life. He felt his heart pounding. _Who is she? Why is my heart beating faster? Why'd she save me? _He knew why his heart was pounding, but found it ridiculous. He…he fell for her in that moment. But _why_? Thoughts filled his head, confusing him even more.

Xion looked at him. _No freaking way. This is so unfair! He's love-struck!_

"Um…thanks…Lightning…" Hope began.

"Call me Light." She replied.

_Light? Light and Hope! It makes too much sense, if you give up "hope", you lose your "light" and fall to the darkness! It's meant to be!_ Xion smiled, and she really creeped Riku out with her sudden grin.

"YOU IDIOT!" Xion screamed as she and Hope desperately ran into the 10th grade half of the building, late for class.

"How was I supposed to know that we had to go here! I was lost, and I followed Riku. I didn't know!"

"If we're late, it's your fault!" Xion wailed as they ran.

Xion and Hope had been relieved to see that they had all their classes together. Riku, being an 11th grader, was at the other half of the school. Hope and Xion had unfortunately gotten desperately lost. Even worse news…their 1st period teacher was Mr. Hojo. They were terrified.

…

They finally got to their class, after 10 minutes of running through the halls at full speed, they were exhausted! They ran into class as fast as their tired legs would carry them, fearing the wrath of Mr. Hojo.

"Sorry we're late!" screamed Xion and Hope.

"How _dare_ you interrupt my class? Sit down over there right now you insignificant worms!" yelled the teacher, an old, ugly man with a voice so annoying that it _was_ a nightmare!

Xion and Hope sat near 2 identical blond boys, a brunette who resembled them, a boy with black hair who resembled the brunette, a blond girl, and a girl with auburn hair. Then Mr. Hojo gave them a group project.

Hope looked at the people in his group, and introduced himself and Xion.

"Hi! I'm Sora! This is Vanitas, that's Ventus, and he's Roxas. They're my brothers. That's Naminé. And over here is my princess, my light, Kairi."

Kairi blushed and giggled, cuddling next to Sora as she did. Xion couldn't take her eyes off of Roxas. There was something special about him…But what?

Roxas looked at the 2 who had just stormed into the room. He couldn't stop staring at the black-haired girl. And it wasn't because of how much she looked like the "Thalassa twins", Kairi and Naminé (a name they'd earned at the last Paopu Festival) . There was something special about her. But what?

Vanitas smirked, "Heh heh heh…looks like Roxy's got a girlfriend!"

Roxas looked at him, "It is so on! I will kick your ass!"

Vanitas grinned again, "We'll see about that."

He didn't know about Roxas' "secret weapon". But Ventus did, and couldn't resist laughing a little. Soon, he'd have some revenge against Vanitas for what he did to Aqua.

It had been 3 years ago, that Vanitas pranked Aqua, but it had been more than just a prank. It was on the school camping trip. Aqua was taking a shower, and Vanitas stole all her clothes and all the towels, and brought all the boys outside the bathroom, and they all saw Aqua naked. Aqua was so embarrassed that she hid from everyone for days, and she even avoided Terra and Ventus, her two best friends. Ven was so pissed off at Vanitas, he hadn't forgiven him. Terra hadn't, either. And Aqua was 1 year older than Ven and Vanitas, and Vanitas took all the boys there, well over 100 boys saw her! Aqua was still embarrassed, 3 years later. Ven was dying to avenge her! And, hopefully, earn her love. Ven had loved Aqua for a few years, but chickened out whenever he tried to admit he loved her. He figured that he'd have to wait for her to feel the same.

He had a feeling that Hope and Roxas may help in his revenge. Roxas and Terra were already in on it. Maybe Hope would help, too.

Riku calmly walked into class, on time and in a good mood. Hope and Xion acting like idiots was pretty funny, and seeing Hope go gaga over Lightning…priceless! He took a seat next to a buff man named Terra and a blue-haired girl named Aqua. Aqua and Terra were tall for their age. Next to him were also a quiet guy named Zexion, a guy with blue hair who shouldn't be messed with named Grimmjow, a guy with a mullet named Demyx, and a green haired girl wearing a skull hat on her head named Neliel, and Ulquiorra he recognized right away as the emo that several girls were staring at (Ulqui's hot). A very strange group of people, that's for sure! Their teacher's name was Mr. Fair, who seemed really young for a teacher, he must be new. Neliel said to call him Zack, like everyone else does. He was really loose and he made math class really fun, especially the way he made the problems.

"The soldier killed 169 monsters in 13 minutes. 3 minutes later, he'd killed 208 monsters. What is the unit rate of the amount of monsters he's killing per minute?" was written on the board. Riku just stared.

_This is how he teaches math! Seriously! And he doesn't get in trouble for it? Math may not be so bad this year._

Riku was seriously confused as to why a girl who resembled Lightning was sitting in the back of the room. Was she there for college credit or something? She was obviously older than the other students in there.

"Sephiroth is making 0 witty remarks a minute and is killing 8 citizens per minute, if the number of times I stab him is (x+1) how many times can I stab him? Answer in units of pwnage." Was the first question on the ditto. Riku stared at the problem in shock. Good thing it's a double period!

_Why did I save that boy? Who was he, anyway? Was he the 'little buddy' that Snow talked about with Serah?_

Lightning was seriously confused. She hadn't even thought about saving that boy…she just _did_. She was a college student, and she planned on being a teacher. So, she had to spend a lot of time in the high school. So did Serah. The bell was about to ring for 2nd period, so she was heading to ELA, where the teacher was…._Damnit! I forgot who it is!_

She walked into the room. Where was the teacher?

_Hey….isn't that the boy from this morning? And there's his sister and…Damnit! My brothers are here! And Kairi and Naminé, too. Shit!_

The silver-haired boy looked in shock as Sora and the others waved madly at her.

"Big sis! Big sis! Hi! Sit here! Sit here!" yelled Sora and his siblings.

"Shut your damn mouths, I'll sit there if you shut up. Happy now?"

Hope stared straight ahead. He was shocked, not by Sora and company acting like morons, or the lack of a teacher. But that Light had walked into the room! The girl who saved his life and made his heart skip a beat was _right there._

_And she's their __sister__! Holy—_

"All right! Students, sit your asses down! I am Ms. Riza Hawkeye, but please call me Lt. Hawkeye."

Sora sat up, "You're Lt. Hawkeye! You know my cousins, Ed and Al! You work with Colonel Mustang, the Flame Alchemist! Awesome!"

Lt. Hawkeye looked straight at him. "You're related to Edward and Alphonse? Well then, I hope you're as smart as them. They're child prodigies! But don't think you'll get any favoritism."

"Don't worry, we didn't want any favoritism!"

"And for the record, these morons aren't even half as smart as our cousins!" grinned Vanitas.

Now Ventus _really_ wanted revenge.

_These guys are related to the Elric brothers! No freaking way!_ Hope and Xion thought at the same moment.

The day went by fast. After a double of ELA, they headed to math with Mr. Fair, who had Riku, Aqua, Terra, Zexion, Neliel, Demyx, and Grimmjow earlier. Then they had history with Mr. Auron, who was awesome! He had scars and weird dark clothes, he was too awesome! And then they heard about an afterschool club with Mr. Vincent Valentine, you learn how to shoot that starts on October 7th. Hope, Xion, and the others signed up for it. It's good to know that for self defense. Then lunch rolled around.

The group just stared at the remodeled cafeteria. It had booths like you see in nice restaurants like Vincent's and Olive Garden. The café where you got the food was clean and fancy, with a marble service. Being served today was chicken legs with carrots and rice on the side. For vegetarians, like Naminé, there was spaghetti with vegetables, it smelled so good! And at the dessert bar was vanilla cake, triple chocolate cake, sea-salt ice cream, pumpkin pie, lemon ice pops, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and all kinds of chips. At the "veggie bar" was every kind of fruit and vegetable you can name, and then some! They even had star fruit and pomegranates! And everything was so clean!

Xion, Hope, Naminé, Kairi, Sora, Ventus, Vanitas, and Roxas sat with Terra, Aqua, Riku, Demyx, Zexion, Neliel, Serah, and Lightning. Neliel was really kind and pretty, and although she was gentle, she seemed like she could kick ass when angered, the scar across her face made it obvious. Zexion was very quiet and shy, but he looked like he could really hurt someone. Maybe he'd beat them up with that giant book he carries! Demyx was a complete idiot, but he was very friendly and funny, and a good listener, someone you could share your problems with. They noticed that Ulquiorra was at the table next to them, alone, with a book that contained all the works of Edgar Allan Poe (he has good taste in poetry). The food was so delicious, and Aqua, Terra, and Ven were relieved when Vanitas left to sit with Grimmjow, Yammy, D-Roy, Ilfort, Edorad, and the others in Grimmjow's group. They were _definitely_ not people to mess with. After that, Ventus turned to Hope.

"Listen, Hope, do you know what Vanitas did to Aqua?" he asked and explained what Vanitas did.

Hope looked shocked, "He really did that! That's terrible, how could he!"

Xion gasped, "That monster! That was heartless!"

"I know, and Aqua was really hurt, wanna help me get revenge? I can't forgive him, I can never forgive him!"

"Yeah, that sick son of a #$%&, he's gotta pay!" said Terra. He also liked Aqua, but he never told Ven, fearing it could ruin their friendship.

Hope and Xion looked at each other. "We'll gladly help get payback!" they said in unison.

Terra, Ven, and Roxas grinned in reply.

"Hey, I'm back. Hey Ven, here's a pomegranate. I know you like them, so here," said Aqua, who had just returned from the veggie bar.

Ven looked at it. "You had the money for it with you? You were getting so many fruits for yourself, and pomegranates are pretty expensive…"

Aqua smiled. "I know you like them, and you're too important to me-forget I just said that!" Her face turned bright red and she shoved a strawberry in her mouth.

Ven's face turned red as well. "Did she…just say what I _think_ she said?"

Xion knew that Aqua was embarrassed, and made a quick save, "No, she didn't! She said she cares about her friends, right?"

"Oh…y-yeah!" Aqua stuttered. She could not believe she let that slip! In front of so many people…_Thank you, Xion. I owe you one!_

Xion grinned._ You owe me big._

The look on his sister's face creeped Hope out. _What' going on in her mind!_

After lunch, the 10th graders headed toward art with Ms. Gainsborough, who had a locket with her and Mr. Zack Fair's names engraved on it. She was obviously trying to hide it, but everyone saw it when they walked in and saw her looking at a photo of Zack in the locket! Everyone was immediately assigned a sketchbook, and they had to draw a symbol to use as their 'logo' and go over it to later carve into a stamp to use on future art. Hope used a boomerang, Sora drew a crown, Roxas drew a shuriken, Xion drew a thalassa shell, Kairi drew a thalassa shell lucky charm, Ven drew the Wayfinder that Aqua had given him years ago, Naminé drew a star for some reason, Vanitas drew a weird looking heart, and their classmates drew other things. Selphie drew nun-chucks, Tidus drew a sword, Wakka drew a blitz ball, Emmaline (pronounced Emma-lean) drew the Naruto leaf sign, Vanessa drew GIR from Invader Zim, and…Raquel was there (how'd she get there!)drawing a pentagram (they're used to ward off evil, so she often draws them). There are other classmates, but they're not important right now. Art was an hour long, which was good, since art is fun. Then was P.E., which was mixed grades, with Coach Lexaeus and Eraqus-sensei. For half of class, the coach has them jog around the track (girls having uniforms that consisted of very short shorts and a tight tank top, and Aqua explained that Mr. Xigbar, a well-known pervert who owned many guns and had an eye-patch, designed all the uniforms for the school district) and the other half was spent learning sword-fighting with Eraqus-sensei. Then was foreign language with Ms. Fang (who freaked out Naminé with the tattoos) and she decided to start with Italian. They unfortunately didn't live close enough to all walk home together. But Riku, Xion, and Hope decided to go to Sora's house, and Terra, Aqua, Kairi, and Naminé did the same. To their surprise, they met up with Serah and Snow on the way there.

Riku looked at Serah. "Aren't you the girl who was in my math class? In the back of the room?"

Serah looked at him. "1st period, right? You were the kid who asked Mr. Fair how he got away with how he taught math!" she laughed. Snow laughed along with her. They were clearly in love; the way they acted proved it.

At Sora's house, they met Cloud, their older brother. Roxas and Ven looked a lot like him with the spiky hair…how did they keep their hair naturally spiky! It defies gravity and logic! Lightning soon arrived, shocked and a little irritated.

"What are _you_ doing here? How did you _get_ here?" she said, giving off her famous death-glare, which would scare Medusa to death! _Medusa!_ The snake-lady who turned people to stone!

"W-well, um, Hope and-and Xion and Riku, they wanted to hang out more, so I-I invited them-them over and—"

"You didn't _ask_ first! Is it so hard! Cloud, go scold them!"

"O-okay…" Cloud replied, and grabbed his brothers, Snow, Serah, and Riku and pulled them into the next room.

Xion turned to Lightning, terrified "You're not gonna kill us, are you!"

Lightning looked at her, a little bit calmer. "No, I won't kill you if you make me some coffee!"

"Yes, m'am! Hazelnut!"

"Of course, now get it before you suffer Snow's daily fate; a punch in the face and push down the stairs every few hours!"

"Be right back with the coffee!" _She'll really kill me!_ Was Xion's response as she darted out the room.

"Uh…"

Lightning turned to the sudden noise beside her. _How long has he been there? I never realized he was here. His name's "Hope", right?_

"Uh…thank you for saving me earlier, Light. I-I'm sorry if I bothered you…"

"It' okay, but how long have you been there? I didn't notice you, and I _always_ notice when people are near me. Was that you're sister? You two are so different, in appearance and personality."

"The other silver-haired boy is also my brother, but I'm the odd one of the bunch. Do you know Axel?"

"Axel? I've seen him around, he works with me at my part time job, he's a psychotic pyro!"

"He's my brother, too."

_WTF!_ "You're related to him! I see it in the eyes, but…why aren't you a pyro? Older siblings usually influence those who come after."

"Well…he became a pyro when he blew up a guy. It was self-defense, so he got away with it, but he hasn't been the same since."

"Oh…sorry, I didn't know."

"Its okay, Axel is crazy, he throw me on coffee tables hard enough to break them to wake me up, like he did this morning!"

"How are you're limbs not broken!"

"Well…my family and I are some of the few lucky people in this world able to use magic. I just heal myself. Axel's really good with fire magic, he can heal really well, but he can't seem to use other magic. Oh, and when Xion told texted him that we were here, he decided to pay a visit. He'll be here soon."

"VANITAS! Hide the flammable items _now_!"

"Fine, why do I do everything? Can't you do it yourself? Lazy bums…" he said as he got to work.

_Oh no! No, no, no! I know they seem meant to be, but Light's too angry to think straight, she'll kill Hope! Where's Axel, he can save him!_

Xion ran in to the living room, expecting to see blood, but she was not prepared for what she saw. Hope and Lightning were calmly sitting next to each other, holding a nice conversation with some Three Days Grace songs coming from the _ipod_'s speakers.

"He-here's your coffee…" she said, her shock plain as day.

"Thank you, and sorry about the rough start," Lightning replied as a knock was heard. Knowing it was Axel, she opened the door. "Have some coffee, Xion made it."

"It's _you_! I'm surprised they know you, but I don't really care how they do. Good to see you outside of work. I see you're more laid back," Axel replied, the last part had a sarcastic tone to it. And as he spoke, the others were leaving the room after their scolding. "Oh, yeah, I have ice-cream!" was all Axel said before the others cheered up. They all sat together in the living room, eating their sea-salt ice cream peacefully. Axel, Roxas, and Xion were talking with each other the entire time, as if Roxas had always been their friend. Sora, Riku, and Kairi formed a trio of their own. Ven, Terra, and Aqua had their trio. Serah and Snow sat with Naminé as she drew cute pictures of them, her drawings were amazing! Vanitas was in his room, plotting evil things that no one wanted to imagine. Hope and Light were talking a little, Hope having finished his ice cream and Light done with her delicious coffee (Xion makes good coffee). They had a good time, but it was time to leave before them knew it.

"Your parents must be worried; you've been here for so long." Serah said at 9:00.

Snow ,Xion, Axel, Riku, and Hope sadly looked down. "We…we don't have parents. We were orphaned at the beginning of Summer Vacation," Hope said quietly.

Everyone was saddened at this. "I'm sorry, I didn't know…" said Serah.

" Pretty recent. How'd it happen?" Vanitas asked as he came down from his room.

_That little brat! I'll strangle him later. How could he ask them a question like that! I'm not even cold enough to ask how someone how something like that happened!_ Lightning angrily thought.

Memories of what happened flashed through Hope's head. Tears began to fill his eyes.

"I'll explain, it's not a happy memory for us," said Snow. He then explained what happened.

It had just been one of the days of the camping trip that the Estheim family went on every year, and every year Snow would tag along, being such a close friend of the family. How could it have gone so wrong?

"Wow, the week's almost over! I can't believe it's the last day of our vacation already!" said Nora Estheim, as she looked at the sun through the cabin window. The cabins of other campers were all around, making seeing the sun over all the roofs a challenge. Hope was standing next to her, a big smile on his face. Hope had always been a "momma's boy", even if he didn't admit it.

"Time flies by when you're having fun!" Bartholomew Estheim replied. Riku stood next to his dad, proud to have grown so much over the week. Snow stood next to Riku, showing how he was still taller than Riku.

Xion and Axel were still fast asleep, Hope and Riku had tried everything to wake them, but to no avail. Axel was 25 years old already, but he spent as much time possible with his family. Xion was a lot like her older brother, Axel. They would always get up around the same time, and they would always have ice cream together. She was part of the reason Axel still joined the camping trips. He wouldn't leave his "lil' buddy" behind!

"Today's activity is hiking up the mountain. Make sure to pack snacks and water to keep you energized! That mountain trail is no joke!" said the counselor, a man named Marluxia (who looked too much like a woman to be straight).

"I'm willing to bet 20 chips that something will go wrong! Anyone to take me up on that bet?" asked a camper named Luxord.

"Me, me, me! I'll bet against you, won't we, Kenny!" said Yachiru, a sweet little girl with pink hair and rosy cheeks, to Kenpachi, a tall, buff man with bells tied on the ends of his spiky hair, who preferred that name to "Ken-Chan".

"Yeah, I have enough chips to pay, considering how many times Ikkaku lost the bets he made. Poor, sucker. He should have never doubted your abilities, Yachiru."

"Yay~! I love making bets!" she squealed. She honestly confused Hope. That little girl could be so scary at times; it's amazing how bad her temper is!

"I'll wake up Axel and Xion. In the meantime, Hope, please pack our backpacks, we don't want to go unprepared," said Snow.

"I was already on it. Snow, where's your backpack?" Hope replied.

"Under my bed."

"Nice place to hide it!"

"If it was in plain sight, Axel would've destroyed it by now for waking him up every day!" Snow said as Hope got the bags. "All, right," Snow said, about to wake up Axel and Xion. _Please don't kill me for this!_ Snow punched Axel in the gut, and seeing Snow's muscles, you know that hurts! And, it woke both Axel and Xion right up.

"What was that noise! Why'd you punch Axel?" Xion asked groggily.

"Snow, I hope you realize, this means war!" Axel said, angry about being punched in the gut for a stupid reason.

"What can you do to me! You're thin as a toothpick; you're not muscular, like me!" Snow said with pride.

"Who said it'd be a fight of strength or fairness?" Axel smirked. "Hey, mom! Do you know what Snow's hiding under the bed? A whole lot of po—" he was cut off by a hand over his mouth.

"Axel, you know it's not true, and you wouldn't dare say that, would you? I mean, c'mon, we're friends, right?"Snow asked, afraid of what happens when Nora gets angry.

"Axel! Xion! I packed your bags, please go get dressed, the hike starts in 15 minutes," Hope said, returning with his arms full of bags.

"You made my brother pack and carry all those bags! But he actually wakes up on time!" Axel said, looking at the 7 packed bags filling Hope's arms. "You know Hope can't carry all that!" no sooner did he speak, Hope tripped over his shoelace and fell face-first onto the cold, hard floor, with the bag falling on top of him one-by-one."See!" Axel yelled.

"Hope, you okay? Need some help?" Xion asked as Hope groaned about his developing headache. Xion pulled the bags off of him and took him for some fresh air. She'd gotten dressed while Axel and Snow were arguing.

"Hey, Xion," Hope asked as they got outside. "Do you ever get the feeling something bad is about to happen?"

"You feel it, too? Good to know I'm not imagining it." Xion replied grimly.

"We should be careful. We'll stick together, maybe that'll help."

"Okay!" Xion replied as she hugged her twin brother. They laughed as they went back to the cabin for their bags and went to the mess hall where Nora, Bartholomew, and Riku were already waiting for them.

"Axel and Snow will be here soon. They're having an argument right now," Hope said as he and Xion sat down. Axel and Snow almost immediately ran in, still arguing. "And there goes the peace," Hope finished.

Finally, it was time for the hike. But Xion and Hope still had a bad feeling, not that they'd admit it. They'd hate to spoil the mood or make others worry. But Axel wasn't stupid; he just didn't say anything about it. Maybe things would've been different if they told the others. Maybe they wouldn't have been there when things went wrong. That was all that Hope and Xion could think about afterward.

"So far, Yachiru's winning the bet, Luxord," Grinned Kenpachi as Yachiru chased a butterfly.

"Don't get your hopes up. You never know what the cards will say. It only takes one to lose. The thing about gambling is that you never know," Luxord replied.

"Shut up, Brit! You and your cards ain't helping with recovering from my gambling addiction!" said Rygdea, another camper.

"Stop your yelling, I need to relax *yawn* I'm tired of hell, I'm gonna stop for a nap—"began Stark.

"You ain't gonna nap on _my_ watch! You'll go through with the hike whether you wanna or not!" screamed Lillinette, Stark's little sister.

"Why don't all of you shut up and stop bothering the peace, you disgraces?" Yaag Rosch said, he was always a jerk, he always would be. He always said mean things. He was so self-centered and ignorant, Xion hated the way he treated her family and friends—especially Hope and Snow, he treated them like dirt.

"Honestly, it's like they don't care about the _normal_ people. How selfish," said Jihl Nabaat, who always agreed with Yaag.

"I freaking hate that #$%&!" Axel mumbled.

"Axel! Watch your mouth young man, even if it's true!" Nora replied, earning muffled laughter from Snow and the others. Axel just grinned.

An hour or so into the hike, Yachiru had followed a bear cub into the forest, so Kenpachi followed. Maybe if Kenpachi had stayed, things would've been safer.

It had been an hour since Kenpachi and Yachiru had left. Yaag and Jihl were annoying Axel about his hair.

"Look at your hair, it's unruly, the people must be quite bothered by your hair! Is your hair more important than the hair of the people!" Yaag yelled as Axel desperately tried to walk away.

"Would you shut up! Some people think my hair is awesome, and cousin Reno has hair just like this! And the girls love him! And they love me, too. Ah, high school. So much fun, I had more love letters than Snow did!"

"Pwned!" yelled Vanessa, a random camper.

"Hey, Xion, did you see the new episode of Total Drama World Tour?" asked Hope. "I saw it at Hayner's house while he, Pence, Olette, and I worked on that project. That "cell rap" project was so hard, I know we'll bomb it!"

"Yeah, it was so funny! And Maria, Vanille, Yuna, and I had no problem doing that cell rap! Easy-peasy!" she giggled.

"You were in a group of honors students, me and Olette were the only honors students in my group, you had an advantage!"

"Yeah, whatever—"she was cut off by a gunshot.

Everyone turned around to see who was shot. Good news, it was Yaag. Bad news: RUN! Whoever the one with the gun was had his face covered by a hockey mask, causing Axel to yell "Holy crap, its Jason's brother! I never thought there would be a time as perfect as this to joke about that movie—get back!"

Another bullet flew by, impaling itself into Jihl's head! Vanessa yelled "Pwnage, now we run!" Everyone began running as fast as they could. They'd been running for a while when they were too high on the mountain to even try escaping.

That was when it happened. Nora tripped. Snow was near her, but he was too slow. There was a bullet in Nora's gut.

"MOM!" Hope screamed. He ran toward the killer. "YOU!"

"Hope, no!" Bartholomew yelled. He grabbed Hope and held him when the next bullets fired. Hope felt something warm trickling down his head and shoulders. He slowly looked up. A bullet was impaled in his father's head. It was the killer's last bullet. "DAD!"

Axel glared. His parents…they were…

For the first time in years, he did something no one ever saw him do. He began to cry. "You…you son of a #$%&!" he screamed as he summoned fire around him. _Magic!_ He looked up at the killer. "**Burn, baby!**" he said as he enveloped the killer in flames.

Xion, Hope, Riku, and Snow stared. _Fire_ _magic!_ But that wasn't a big deal. Their parents…They were dead. And the blood was all over Hope.

"Mommy! Dad! No! No! NO!" Hope cried. "No…no…why?" he was sitting by their corpses, covered in blood, and crying for the parents he'd never see again. Riku was calling the police on his cell phone, trying to hide his sobs. Xion and Axel were sitting together; crying together. Snow had entered shock and just stood there, unable to believe his eyes, begging to wake up from the nightmare.

"Xion…" Roxas said sadly as he turned to his friend. He had just met her, and yet he felt sad just by seeing her crying.

"Hope…"Light said as she put her arm over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry…" Serah said, feeling guilty about bringing up the memory.

The sorrow and pain were mutual. _They saw them get murdered…_Aqua thought, tightening her hold on Ven, trying to resist crying in front of them.

"Wow, you actually saw that? I only see stuff like that in movies, how does it feel to live the movie?" Vanitas asked monotonously, completely devoid of emotion.

Light slapped her brother across the face. "Don't say things like that! Especially knowing about what happened to Cloud…"

Cloud looked down sadly.

"What happened to you?" asked Axel.

"I was in the car…and…there was this drunk driver…mom and dad were in the car…I was the only one who got out of the crash alive…" he said.

"Well, see ya tomorrow!" Axel said. He had tried to lighten the mood, but it didn't work out so well. He drove his siblings, Snow, Aqua, Terra, Kairi, and Naminé all home. It had taken a long time to get them all to their homes, it's not like walking the streets alone at night is safe!

Aqua sat in her room, looking at a picture of her parents. They were on a business trip, and she missed them. But after hearing about Xion's parents, she was just worried about them. _I feel so bad for them…seeing their parents killed like that…_She picked up the phone to call her parents, but she got the answering machine. "Hey mom, hey dad; call me in the morning, okay?" she said before she turned off the phone. They hadn't picked up the phone since they went on the trip last week. They had always been distant. They had always seemed to ignore her.

Terra sat on his bed. Next to his table was a photo he had taken with his parents when he was a kid. His parents were visiting his sick uncle. Uncle Ansem had gotten pretty sick, though Terra didn't remember what he had. His parents were rarely ever home, anyway. He wondered why. He barely even knew them, his own parents.

Sora, Roxas, Ven, and Van were all sitting on their beds. Roxas, Sora, and Ventus were giving Vanitas the "death glare" (Lightning had taught it to them). They couldn't believe that Van would ask something so heartless! Van couldn't see the problem. He was more focused on planning his next evil scheme. He'd already allowed the boys into the girl's shower room twice and blamed Tidus, blew up some stuff in Hojo's classroom, stole all the girl's tampons and hid them in Terra's locker (that was awesome), filled the band instruments with jell-o, filled Mr. Fair's room with cats (which ended up making Zack very happy), and other things. He had an evil scheme in mind, much worse than the prank he played on Aqua three years ago. This was even more evil, he'd need the help of Mansex, which was the codename for Xemnas (which everyone knew). He doubted that his plan could possibly fail.

Kairi and Naminé were sitting on their beds. Naminé's bad had light blue sheets and her drawings covered the wall. Kairi's sheets were lavender, her walls were covered with posters of "Linkin Park", "Paramore", "Three Days Grace", "Pink", "Nickelback", "Naruto", "30 Seconds to Mars" ect., exactly what you'd expect a girl's room to look like. They were looking at a picture of their parents, Ichigo and Orihime, who they couldn't wait to see. Their parents were on a cruise to Hawaii, it was their anniversary present. Their parents were so strong and wise, and also so in love. They loved their kids and would never let anything bad happen to them. But, the thought of what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Estheim in front of their kids and friends terrified Kairi and Naminé.

Serah sat in her room, hugging her photo of Snow, thinking of what he'd seen. He said that he was always like a brother to Axel and his siblings, and like a son to Nora and Bartholomew. He saw them die. It was a terrible thought, and she felt his pain.

Cloud sat in his room. It was plane besides a few photos of his girlfriend, Tifa, and some photo of friends, like Baret, Vincent, Yuffie, Reno, Rude, Zack, and Aerith. _They also saw those they love die in front of them. They have to carry the terrible memory at such a young age, and so suddenly._ He rolled over and his phone went off. Tifa had texted him "I hear you made some new friends. Aerith told me. You have to introduce me sometime! See you tomorrow!"He smiled at the text. "Come over tomorrow, they'll be here," Cloud looked up at the ceiling. He thought about the one thing that made him and his sibling become orphaned seem so strange—him, Lightning, and Serah were only their half-sibling. They had the same dad, but the parent that still lived—Sora's mom—had never shown. Cloud couldn't help but wonder who she was, and why she never tried to take care of the kids.

Lightning sat on the chair in her room. It was pretty empty besides some photos, a laptop, and some things she needed, like an HD TV. To think that Axel was a pyro because of that, that Hope was so quiet and shy…Cloud was 17 and was never close to his parents. Their death was still horrifying, but Hope and his siblings loved their parents, and the blood was all over poor Hope. It had been much worse for Hope's family. She turned to the door. _Maybe a trip to our game room tomorrow will be fun._

Hope and Xion were sitting next to each other. They'd always shared a room together no matter where they went, ever since they were little. Their room had light blue walls, the walls were decorated with posters (the same as in Kairi and Namine's room) and they had a flat screen TV hanging on the wall. Under Xion's bed was an enormous box of seashells. Under Hope's was a boomerang. They sat in silence, Hope trying to chase away the memory of his parents' deaths, as Xion thought of how Roxas seemed so understanding to the pain. He was as sad as her. How did he looks so sad?

Axel was in the living room, talking on the phone with Shannon. She'd already heard of his parents' deaths, so he spoke of the new friends. But he kept trying to remember where he heard the name "Lightning Farron" before. He knew that the name was familiar.

Riku sat in his room. His shelves lined the walls, he had soccer trophies, baseball trophies, karate and martial arts photos (he has a black belt in karate), and blitzball trophies. He could never forget what happened. He knew that there was nothing he could have done back then. He just wanted to be able to protect the family he had left. He was wondering about something else. If Sora's family had no parents, how did they afford all the stuff they have! _They must be rich! How!_ Riku thought. Axel barely got enough for them to scrape by!


	2. Chapter 2

"Hope! Not _again_!" Xion yelled. Hope, again, wouldn't get up. She thought for a moment. "Axel bought more ice cream!"

Hope shot out of bed. "Ice cream!"

_That got him up!_ Xion giggled.

"You tricked me!" he whined.

"Get your uniform on and let's go! We're gonna spend the day at the Farron's house! I wanna see Roxas! And I know you wanna see Light," she smirked at the last part.

"What do you mean by that!" Hope asked as his face turned red.

"Ice cream's in the freezer," she said and walked away.

"Yeah. Just leave me hanging. _Nice_!" He yelled as his sister walked away.

Lightning stood in the doorway, speechless. "VANITAS! The #$% did you do! I had to climb through the #$%ing window, and I see this! You pushed all the furniture in front of the door! What the #$%!"

"How could you do that to us!" screamed his brothers as they put on their uniforms.

He grinned. "I like to sleep. Sue me!" He said and walked out.

"What is wrong with our brother!" yelled Sora. It was hard to make Sora hate someone, especially if it's his brother, but Vanitas was easy to hate.

They had breakfast and began walking to school. Vanitas had also set all the clocks an hour fast, and none of them had overslept. They weren't late, they were right on schedule. At that moment, Xion, Hope, Riku, Terra, Aqua, Naminé, and Kairi popped in Roxas' peripheral vision.

"Look who's here!" Ven said and ran up to Aqua. "Good morning!" he smiled.

"Hey, Ven. I never knew you were a morning person," she said in an attempt to hide her red cheeks. _He's so cute in the morning! I love when he's cheerful._ She especially loved how Ven started to laugh. He had such a cute laugh! He was so sweet and innocent, he was warm and friendly, he did a lot of community service, there were many reasons that he was so popular.

"Hey, Roxas. Good to see you. I brought us some ice cream!" Xion said cheerfully. She handed out the ice cream and the group walked away, talking and laughing about silly things.

"Yo, Vanitas! Why don't you walk with us?" asked Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. As he said that, the rest of his group came out.

"I'm coming. Later, losers! See ya in school!" Vanitas said and walked away.

_He's gone! Finally!_ Thought Sora and his friends.

"Hey, where's Lightning and Cloud?" asked Hope.

"At college. But we'll see Light in ELA. Count on it. Cloud's at college, too," Roxas replied. He was acting pretty nervous. Xion was so close to him! He had to fight the urge to put his arm over her shoulder. And he really wanted to, making resistance even harder!

_Come on! Put your arm on my shoulder, Roxas! I know you wanna! _Xion desperately thought. She wanted her and Roxas to be like Sora and Kairi.

"Hey, Kairi, what's that?" Sora asked when he noticed something in Kairi's hands.

"Oh, this? You'll find out later!" she said, quickly hiding it.

"But I wanna know now!"

"It's not done yet! And the wait is good, it'll build up suspense."

"Screw suspense, I wanna know now!"

"I'd say to stop acting like a kid, but you look so cute!" Kairi giggled.

Sora just grinned and hugged her. "You know it!"

Aqua stared at them. _Aw~ How sweet, they're so in love! That'll be me and Ven one day! _

Xion watched them. _Why can't me and Roxas do that!_

"Oh shit," said Terra.

"What's wrong?" asked Ven.

"Look who it is," He said, and he cursed under his breath. _Nnoitora._

Nnoitora was the tall, annoying senior. He had an eye-patch and a huge thing on his clothes that earned him the name "spoon-head". He was a sadistic pervert and was possibly worse than Vanitas, and he was the one who gave Neliel the large scar. Everyone knows to avoid him. And Neliel lived right near there, and was on her way there, being that it was the route most students walked.

She saw Nnoitora and snarled. "What are_ you_ doing here, spoon-head?"

"Shut the #$% up, you piece of shit," he said. He turned to Xion, Hope and the others. "Who're they? They're new? I hope they can hold up their own in a fight," he slowly grinned and leapt at Hope.

Neliel blocked the hit. "The hell are you doing! Why do you just wanna hurt people!"

Hope noticed blood coming from Neliel's arm, right where she blocked the hit. He turned his head and gasped. _Where was he carrying that knife! It's huge!_

"Hey, guys keep walking. I'll see you later! And, Riku, there's a pop quiz in math. He pulls a pop quiz on the second day of school each year. It's on dividing polynomials!" Neliel said and walked towards Nnoitora. Her friends followed her advice.

"Who was that guy?" asked Xion, worried about Neliel.

"Nnoitora's a dangerous person, avoid him at all costs. Especially alone in the night! If you see him, run the other way. That's all you need to know," Naminé said. "He gave Nel that scar, and she's really strong. Who knows what he'd do to you!"

"_Nel_?" asked Xion, Riku, and Hope in unison.

"Nel is her nickname; it's easier than calling her Neliel Tu Oderschvank!" Aqua said with a laugh.

"Damn! That's her full name? I wish the substitute teachers good luck with pronouncing_ that_!"

Cliché "laughing as screen fades scene"!

"Oh #$%!" Riku said under his breath. The pop quiz had 50 dividing polynomials questions, and all of them involved explaining how you got the answer.

"What the hell, Zack!" asked Grimmjow.

"Like the body, you must train your mind. You need to experience pain if you wanna kick ass at math!" Zack said calmly and sat down with his **Dunkin' Donuts**® coffee. He leaned back and smirked. "Or do you wanna fail?"

Grimmjow mumbled something under his breath and got to work.

Zack collected the papers as soon as people finished, and by the end of the second period almost everyone was done.

"Let's see…" he said as he graded papers. "Nel got 100, Riku gets an 84, Ulquiorra got 103, great job on the bonus, Aqua got 103, Terra has a 76, Demyx has a 60, Zexion gets 103, Grimmjow gets a 60…" he read off more names and caused different reactions.

"Class, another group experiment today. I found this rare bird and killed it and it's young. Now DISSECT THEM!" demanded Professor Hojo.

"I'm not dissecting that!" yelled Hope and his group.

"Then you have to write an essay about the water cycle."

"It' better than this!" said Sora as he grabbed the essay paper for Hope and the others.

~2nd period~

"Class, today you'll be reading a poem called 'El Dorado' by Edgar Allan Poe. Then you'll answer some questions about it. Edgar Allan Poe was a great writer, and we'll read many of his works during the school year," said Lt. Hawkeye as she handed out the packets.

Hope read the poem.

"_Gaily bedight, a gallant knight_

_In sunshine and in shadow_

_Had journeyed long, singing song_

_In _search_ of El Dorado"_

He read the rest of it and answered the questions.

Everyone quickly finished and started talking with friends. Raquel, Emmaline, and Vanessa were talking about GIR in the back of the room. They sat back there because they were good students and could be trusted.

"Everyone's done, so now we're moving on to the next assignment. I will assign you to groups and you will work together to construct a paragraph using the TDEC method about what you think the poem is about. The groups are as follows…" she read many names before getting to Hope. "Hope, Raquel, Emmaline, and Vanessa's group sit in the back. Xion, Roxas, Naminé, and Vanitas are near the board. Sora, Kairi, Tidus, and Wakka are near my desk. Ventus, Selphie, and Vanille go over there."

"Hope, long time no see. I can tell you're not emo. How've you been?" asked Raquel, finding it good to be in a group of sane people.

"Do you watch Naruto?" asked Emmaline (Emma-lean, that' the pronunciation, get it memorized).

"Do you know GIR? Raquel is great at GIR impressions," said Vanessa.

"I already wrote the opening sentence and detail sentence, man I hate TDEC. Emma, you're the writer, you have the neatest handwriting," said Raquel.

"I watch Naruto and Invader ZIM; do you watch Total Drama World Tour?" Hope said.

"We'll get along just fine!" said Emma as she wrote.

"Hope, what does the poem mean to you? I think it's about searching and never giving up until you reach the destination," said Raquel.

"I think it's about doing whatever it takes to find what matters to you. The knight wanted to find El Dorado, it was important that he found it," Hope replied.

"I like the way you think! Okay, Emma, now write this…" she began.

"Everyone's done, time to grade these!" said Lt. Hawkeye.

Hope's group got a perfect score. "Wow, what did you write?" he asked.

"Read it for yourself, I've got manga to read!" said Raquel as she pulled out volume 46 of Naruto.

"Me, too," said Emma as she pulled out the collector's edition of Naruto volume 1.

"I'm gonna draw GIR!" said Vanessa.

"Okay then…"Hope said, rather confused.

~4th period~

"Students, you have a pop quiz! And it's not on dividing polynomials. It's on DOTS-difference of two squares. If you get over 90, you get this giant box of DOTS® candy. Between 80 and 90 gets a small box. Lower than an 80 gets you homework. Calculators are allowed. No talking. I'll play some calming music. Good luck!" said Zack as he handed out papers.

_Difference of squares? Easy enough._ Xion thought as she looked at her paper.

"Time to announce the grades!" Zack said after all the papers were handed in. "This was very easy, so the grades are great. Raquel, 100. Emmaline, 100. Vanessa, 96. Hope, 100. Xion, 100. Naminé, 100. Kairi, 100. Sora, 86. Roxas, 98. Ventus, 98. Vanitas, 80, you were putting gum underneath your desk, clean it now before I get Angeal, he'll kick your ass. He's the other math teacher, but he's a lot stricter than I am. Tidus, 78, you're homework is to get me a new blitzball, Sephiroth broke mine last time I asked him to play. Selphie, 92. Wakka, 92. Loly, 82. Menoly, 86, Fuu, 100…"he called many other names. "Now come get your candy!"

~6th period~

"Welcome, students. I know it's a month early for this sort of thing, but today we'll begin learning about the Salem Witch Trials using the journal of someone from Salem during that time period. Does anyone know how the trials started?" asked Mr. Auron.

"Didn't they start when two brats tried to see the future and acted like they were possessed so they didn't get in trouble or something?" said Vanitas with a yawn.

"The story goes something like that. But you didn't raise your hand. You have one warning. Two more and it's a call home. If you do three more, it's detention with Dr. Vexen. You wouldn't like that, would you? He's almost as bad as Professor Hojo."

"Whatever, I don't care." Vanitas said as he leaned back in his chair. As he leaned back, Ven gave him a little push, making him fall over. "Why you—"Vanitas growled as he got up.

"I didn't do anything! I swear!" Ven said as he backed up. _Its times like these that I'm glad that I'm a good liar._

"I know it was you!" Vanitas yelled.

"Quiet, Vanitas. Ven's a good boy; he wouldn't try to hurt his own brother. Shut up or it's a call home."

"I know it was him! I don't give a shit if you call my sister!" Vanitas yelled as he pushed Ven onto the floor and kicked him a few times.

"Ow! That really hurt!" Ven yelled, he'd hit his head on the floor very hard, and was bleeding. Bruises were forming where he was kicked.

"Hope, please walk Ventus to the nurse's office. Vanitas, to the principal's office; NOW," Mr. Auron said angrily.

"C'mon, Ven," Hope said as he pulled Ven to nurse Unohana.

~at nurse's office~

"Oh my, what happened to you, Ventus?" Ms. Unohana asked with concern, being that Ventus sometimes helped her with getting supplies. And when Vanitas and Grimmjow's group cam one the first day of school armed with paintball guns and started firing at random students, Ven made her some coffee and helped treat the students who had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were even on a first name basis, and Unohana would even get him out of detention.

"Nothing, Vanitas just pushed me, that's all. You don't need to worry, Retsu."

"But you're such a sweet boy. And his brother! He has no right to hurt you. And you're bleeding, how hard did he hit you!" he asked as she wrapped bandages around Ven's head.

"Hard enough to knock him onto the floor six feet from where he was sitting," Hope replied.

"That hard! And you must be new, I've never seen you. You are…?"

"Hope Estheim. I just moved here from Twilight Town, though I lived in Palumpolum before that. Two of my siblings go to this school. My sister's hitting on Ven's identical brother."

"So you'll be Ven's brother-in-law?"

"Possibly; especially considering how much Xion stares at his brother."

"It's true. I think Roxas looks kinda nervous around her, he might like her," Ven said with a laugh.

"Well then, it's good to see that Ven's made more friends. He's always been popular, but popularity doesn't bring true friends," Retsu said with a smile.

"I know that. Hope's a good buddy."

"Well, here's a pass. The bell is going to ring in 3 minutes, and you'll be late to lunch if you don't head there now."

"Thank you, Retsu! Let's go, Hope. We'll be first on line. They're serving cheese lasagna today! I love lasagna!"

"Who doesn't love lasagna! Let's hurry!" Hope said as he and Ven ran toward the stairs.

~Lunch~

"Ven! What happened to you! Are you okay! Who hurt you!" Aqua demanded, asking question after question too fast for Ven to answer.

"Vanitas pushed me on the floor and I hit my head. I'm fine, nothing serious," Ven replied calmly, hoping she'd calm down.

"I'll kill Vanitas! How dare he hurt such a sweet, kind, understanding, lovable—I mean such an innocent person! His own brother!" Aqua yelled.

"That son of a &#$%." Terra mumbled.

"I know I'd never do that to my brother if I had one," said Zexion.

"His own brother! That's just plain rude!" said Demyx.

"He's almost as bad as Nnoitora," Nel said as she looked at the bandages.

"I only do that to discipline my siblings, I'd never hurt a relative without purpose!" Lightning growled. "He's in big trouble when he gets home."

"I can't believe my own brother would do something like that. Look at all the blood on the bandages!" Serah said.

"He pushed him really hard. Mr. Auron was so mad!" Kairi said as Naminé nodded.

"My poor brother! I can't believe he was hurt by my other brother!" Sora complained.

"All you did was lightly push him and he got pissed off! Look at you!" Roxas exclaimed.

"It's okay, it's nothing really, even though Retsu was pretty upset about it," Ventus said.

"You made Ms. Unohana worry, Hope told me. To make her worry, it can't be little. Let me see where he kicked you," Roxas said.

Ven sighed and showed the large bruises on his arm, stomach, and shoulder. "It's not so bad," he said in an attempt to calm the others down.

"Would you look who it is," Xion said angrily and pointed at the door.

"Hey, what happened to you, Vanitas? You're late to lunch. I saved you some food," Grimmjow yelled from eight tables away.

"I hurt my brother. Everyone freaked out over it. Ms. Unohana even scowled at me when I walked by!" Vanitas replied with a shrug as he walked to Grimmjow's table.

"So _you're_ why Ventus is bruised and bleeding! What'd he do to make you mad?"

"He pushed me."

"That's it! He pushed you and you injure him? Harsh. And I thought my temper was bad!"

"I'll kill you!" Aqua yelled suddenly. She grabbed Vanitas by his shirt collar. "How dare you do that to him!"

"Vanitas, how could you!" asked Serah.

"You're in big trouble. I called Cloud and told him what you did," Lightning growled.

"Oh, _come on_! You're so worried about him? He pushed me, it's his own fault," Vanitas replied.

"You don't care! What kind of brother are you!" Sora yelled.

"Your own brother!" Kairi yelled.

"What's the problem! He's my brother; I'll hurt him all I want!" Vanitas yelled as he struggled from Aqua's hold and pushed Ven over a chair (very quickly, too).

Lightning growled and grabbed Vanitas by the wrist. "To the main office! We're going home early."

"Ven! Are you okay!" Aqua asked Ven as his friends gathered around him.

"I'm fine," Ven replied. But he had hit his head on the table and was bleeding from another spot.

"C'mon. I'll take you to the nurse," Aqua said and helped Ven up. "Let's go."

~nurse's office _again_~

"Vanitas did _that_!" Ms. Unohana asked. "He's so violent! Look at you!"

"Eh…heh…heh…"

"This is nothing to laugh about! Look at you!" Aqua and Ms. Unohana yelled.

Ven looked at the ground. "Sorry."

"Vanitas is the one who hurt you! Why are you apologizing!" Aqua replied.

"I just don't want anyone to worry. Besides, I'm like a punching bag. If I don't get hurt, who would he hurt instead? Remember when I came in with the broken arm?"

"Yeah; you said you fell down the stairs," Aqua replied.

"I did fall down the stairs. Well, I was _pushed_ down the stairs," he whispered. "He was also the one who scraped my knee, though I said I fell off my bike."

"He did!"

"Yeah; and Aqua, remember the prank he pulled on you? He was planning worse things after that. I stole the blueprints while he was with Grimmjow."

"Blueprints!" Aqua asked.

"Yeah; he actually required blueprints for his prank. Some warning: avoid pools when he's around, and fields, and alleys. He shoved me into the girls' bathroom because of those blueprints!"

Aqua just stared.

"I think I should have a talk with him tomorrow," Ms. Unohana mused with her infamous smile that meant she was ready to kill. It scares everyone into doing what she says.

Aqua and Ven shivered when they saw the grin.

~art~

"Oh my! What happened to you! Who did that to you!" Ms. Gainsborough pestered as soon as she saw Ven.

"Vanitas," said Sora and Roxas. "Our brother did that to him."

"His own brother! He's in trouble when he gets back," Ven had even done community service with Ms. Gainsborough.

"Yeah, he kinda wants that ignored. People have been interrogating him for the past hour or so," Hope said.

"Okay. But how is he going to work with his arm bruised up?"

"I'm both righty _and_ lefty. No problem!" Ven smiled.

"Our brother is a man…er…boy of many talents!" Sora beamed with his arms around Roxas and Ventus.

The day's art project was finishing carving the logos and testing them out. The students couldn't be happier with how the logos came out. Ven finished quickly and started drawing a picture of Aqua in his sketchbook. Xion reached in her pocket and pulled out a blue thalassa shell. She carved Roxas' name into it and placed it on the table. Roxas happened to come by and see the shell. When Xion saw him staring at the shell, she freaked out and hid behind Ms. Gainsborough. Roxas couldn't tell the shell was Xion's and walked away. Xion was so relieved! The bell rang and she darted out as fast as she could.

~chorus~

It's day 2, they have chorus instead of P.E.

"I don't wanna sing—"Roxas started to say before he bumped into someone and fell over.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" asked the yellow-haired boy he'd walked into.

"It's okay. I'm fine…but where's my wallet?"

"Ha!" the student yelled as he held up the wallet. "I'm Zidane, the best thief there is!" he proudly announced as he gave back the wallet.

"I see you're a good thief," Roxas said as he stuffed his wallet back into his pocket.

"Aren't you gonna introduce yourself?" Zidane asked.

"I'm Roxas; the brother of Sora and Ventus."

"Oh! Is Ventus okay? I saw what Vanitas did!"

"I'm fine," Ventus said.

"Look at you!" Zidane said.

"_Hello_, Zidane," said a boy who could easily have passed for a girl.

"_Shit_! What do _you_ want, Kuja?" Zidane exclaimed.

"I just want to see how you are. Is that so wrong?" asked Kuja.

"Just leave me alone!" Zidane yelled and seemed to walk away, but actually went behind Terra.

"Why do you hate Kuja?" asked Terra.

"Because he's allied with that crazy clown, y'know, Kefka. And he looks like a girl, even though he's straight, and there's another reason…" Zidane replied.

"Sit down!" a voice yelled suddenly. There stood…Marluxia!

"Holy s***!" yelled Xion, Riku, and Hope.

"Well, look who it is. How've you been?" Marluxia asked.

"…" *stare-down*

"Welcome to chorus. I'm our teacher. Call me Mr. Marly."

"You look like a girl! Are you related to Kuja?" Loly asked.

"Actually, I am. I'm his uncle," *dun dun DUN*

"I'm sorry I'm late!" A brown haired boy said as he walked in.

"Bartz!"

"Zidane! Long time no see!"

"Sit down, please. Let's get started with warm ups. Repeat after me: _I gotta a pocket—"_

"NO!" yelled the students in unison.

"Okay…I'm a little tea-pot—"

"NO!"

"_All I want is a little of the good life—_"

"_All I need! S'to have a good time! O-o-o-o—oh! The good life!_"

"Good, a song we can agree on. We're going to enter competitions, just so you know. We will perform One Winged Angel, Sanctuary, and This is Halloween. The first concert is on October 29th. Now let's find out who's alto, soprano, tenor, and bass. Girls, stand and sing Simple and Clean," *1 song later* "Okay, altos are: Raquel, Emmaline, Vanessa, Fuu, Aqua, Menoly, and Neliel. Sopranos: Xion, Naminé, Kairi, Selphie, Loly, and Cirucci Sanderwicchi. Tenors: Zidane, Bartz, D-Roy, Kuja, Ilfort, Sora, Roxas, Ventus, Hope, and Demyx. Basses: Terra, Zexion, Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Edorad, Shawlong. That's it. Now altos sit here, tenors there, basses there, sopranos there. See you in two days!" the bell rang.

~foreign language~

"Welcome! Today we're starting a unit of food! So, write down in your agenda to bring in Italian food tomorrow. Then we'll start learning. For now, here's a crossword and wordbank for fruits in Italian. Have fun! And extra credit: how do you say coffee in Italian?" announced Ms. Fang.

"_Caffé_! "said Xion after she was called on.

"Correct! Now get to work!"

Uneventful class.

~at lockers~

"You don't have to wait for me," Ventus said as his two brothers, his sister and friends stood behind him. "I'll catch up."

"We'll wait. What kind of friends would we be to leave you behind?" Terra asked as he ruffled Ven's hair.

"Hey~!" called a familiar voice.

"Zidane?" asked Roxas.

"You gotta help me! Kefka wants to saw me in half! Literally! He has a chain saw!" Zidane yelled.

"I'm done at my locker. Zidane, you can come over if you want," Ven said.

"Thanks!" Zidane beamed. _I'm safe! That clown is crazy!_

~the walk~

"Hey, Ven. Did you really push Vanitas? Or did he just want to hurt you?" Zidane asked.

"I lightly pushed him. I didn't expect him to overreact like that!"

"Damn! He's crazy!"

"That's an understatement," Aqua seemed a little angry as she said that.

"Wow. I've never been in this area before…"Zidane mused, feeling a bit lost.

"Don't worry. We're almost there, just another block," Naminé said.

"Was that the first thing you said all day?" Terra asked with a grin.

"No. I answered a question out loud in science," Naminé scoffed.

"Zidane, I'm positive I didn't see you yesterday in any classes," Kairi suddenly said.

"I wasn't able to come to school yesterday. On the way there, Bartz got us lost. He loves wandering aimlessly, and he wondered all the way to the chocobo farm! You know, the one Sazh owns."

"You know Sazh?" asked Serah.

"Yeah. Don't you?"

"Yeah, but we're so far from there! How did Bartz get you there!"

"I…don't…know," Zidane said slowly, in a way that made everyone laugh.

"We're here!" Sora said.

"It's huge!" Zidane yelled.

"Where's the key?" Sora asked.

"I have it, you idiot," Roxas laughed as he unlocked the door. "Sounds like Light's still yelling at Vanitas."

"Wow!" Zidane said as he looked around. "You must have everything!"

"We don't have everything," Ven said as he glanced at Aqua.

_He said that as if he was talking about a girl! Who is she! _Aqua thought, a bit panicked.

At that moment, Light walked out. "Hey. Ven, are you feeling any better?" Light asked quietly.

"I'll make some coffee, 'kay?" Xion said as she went to the kitchen.

"Thanks!" Light called as Xion left.

"Wow! This place is nice! Look at all the Three Days Grace songs on that ipod!" Zidane mused.

"I haven't seen you before. Who're you?"

"Zidane."

"You remind me of a monkey," Light said without even the slightest smile.

"He's not a monkey, but he's a great pickpocket." Roxas said.

"Hmph. Well, to the game room!" Light announced.

"Game room?" Hope, Xion, Riku, and Zidane repeated.

"Yes, as soon as Axel and Snow get here," Light said as Xion handed out coffee.

"Sora, can I see you alone for a minute?" Kairi asked.

"Of course!" Sora replied as he followed her.

"Here. This is for you. It wasn't done earlier, but now it is," Kairi said as she handed Sora a Wayfinder made of Thalassa shells.

Sora stared at it. "It's so nice, Kairi. I'll always carry it," Sora said as he put it in his pocket and hugged Kairi.

"Naminé, why'd Kairi take Sora?" Roxas asked.

"She has a gift for him."

"Yo!" Axel yelled as he and Snow came in.

"Finally! To the game room!" yelled Sora as everyone ran toward the basement.

"Damn," Said Axel, Xion, Hope, and everyone else besides the ones who owned it.

In the "game room" (which was more than 1 room) was a PS3, a pool table, foosball table, a huge HD TV, 3 large couches around the spot with the TV, a coffee table between the couches, a projector, a computer, a candy-grabber like you see in amusement parks, and speakers all over the walls for surround sound. In the next room was a kitchen with a table like a bar (bar-stools included) with a fridge, popcorn maker, cotton candy machine, a fancy coffee machine, a lot of ice-cream, and several tables that made it look like a real bar. In another room was an indoor pool. A hot tub was in the room next to that. Outside was a basketball hoop, barbeque, and a shed full of things like jump rope, hula hoops, and the kind of things you see in P.E. class. There was another room ,but the door was locked and they couldn't find the key.

"This. Is. Awesome. Why have you never taken us down here!" yelled Aqua, Terra, Kairi, and Naminé, who had never been down there in the 11 years they'd known the Farrons

"It's like a beautiful dream!" Zidane said incredulously. "Pinch me! On second thought, I don't wanna wake up."

"Wow," Was all Hope could say.

"Damn," Axel said with a grin. "I have to get this memorized!"

"Cotton candy! I love cotton candy!" Xion mused as she looked towards the kitchen.

"Serah, I had no clue that you had all this!" Snow said with a laugh.

"Who's up for foosball? Two on two!" Sora declared as he put a hand on Roxas' shoulder.

"It's on!" Zidane smirked.

"I'm on Zidane's team!" Terra called.

"Um…hey, Light?"

"Hm? Yeah, Hope?"

"Where's Vanitas?

"Locked upstairs."

"Can't he get out the window?"

"I locked him in the torture room :) he can't escape," Light then had an evil grin on her face. "Follow me."

They went to the 3rd floor.

"Look through the eye-piece in the door," Light's face now looked like a Jack o` Lantern's, with the huge evil grin.

Hope peaked through. "You're evil! Not even he can survive that!"

"Mwa ha ha…"

"Hey, Serah. Me and Axel are going to **Blockbuster**. We'll be back soon, okay?" said Kairi.

"Sure! I'll tell Light."

~at **Blockbuster**~

"Where's freaking anime section? Oh, what's this? Isn't that the singer that teens are crazy over? Wonder why," Kairi mused. She put on the demo.

_Baby, baby, baby, oh~_

_I was like baby, baby, baby, woah~_

"I just experienced hell! Why would anyone like this crap! Axel!"

"Yeah?"

"You're a pyro, right?"

"Yeah, I'm a pyro, got it memorized?"

"Burn these terrible CDs. NOW!"

"How bad could they be?" *he listens to demo*

2 seconds later…

"**Burn, **_**baby**_**!**"

"Holy crap!" yelled the cashier. "Oh, wait. _Those_ CDs. Never mind, they can burn. Just extinguish the fire afterward."

"Wait! I need to find the Naruto DVDs!" Kairi shouted.

"Right over there."

"Thank you!"

~back home~

"Why do you smell like smoke?" Light growled.

"We burned the Beiber CDs," Kairi said, slowly backing away from Light.

Light patted Kairi on the shoulder. "It was the responsible thing to do."

"Anyway, we're going to all watch The Haunting in Connecticut." Naminé said.

They sat on the couches and each couch got a bowl of popcorn. Zidane and Naminé sat on the back of a couch because they couldn't fit anywhere else.

"AAH!" Xion screamed when the face appeared in the glass. She jumped right onto Roxas' lap as she screamed and wrapped her arms around him.

His face turned crimson. "It's just a movie, Xion."

She opened her eyes and blushed. "Sorry!"

"It's okay," Roxas replied. "But don't suffocate me next time you're scared. You have a death grip."

"Sorry!" she exclaimed with her face brighter red than before.

The scene with the ectoplasm.

"AAH!" screamed Aqua as she began hugging Ven. Xion was hugging Roxas, Kairi was hugging Sora, Hope was holding Light's arm, Serah was hugging Snow, and Naminé fell off the couch.

"Aqua…can't…breath…"

"Sorry, Ven!"

"It's okay," said Ven, secretly thrilled to have Aqua's arms around him.

Scene with dead bodies found in the walls.

"AAAH!" screamed Naminé, Kairi, Serah, Xion, Aqua, Zidane, Hope, Roxas, Terra, and Sora.

"Damn," was all Lightning said as she pat Hope on the head, waiting for the circulation in her arm to come back after his tight grip.

"Nice effects!" Snow said, pretending he wasn't scared.

"It's okay, Aqua," Ven said. He hadn't gotten scared. He was too happy about being hugged by Aqua!

Movie ends.

"What a good movie!" Zidane exclaimed. "I'm so glad you let me come over!"

"No problem!" said Ven. Axel was driving everyone home now. "See you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Xion. See you tomorrow," Roxas said sheepishly.

"See ya!" Xion said, fighting back the urge to hug Roxas.

They left.

"Roxas! Where are you!" Sora yelled. "Roxas!" He walked down into the basement and went to the 'locked' door. He knocked and entered. Inside were several music instruments. "Still working on that song?"

"Y-yeah," Roxas replied. He was sitting at a piano, with a half-blank music sheet. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish it in time."

"You have a few months! You'll finish without staying up late. Now go to sleep!"

"Okay…" he said as he got up. He locked the door as he left.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh my gosh! It's the apocalypse! Hope got up _before_ me!"

"Ha ha. Real funny, Xion," Hope replied with a grin.

"Get up! It's time for breakfast! Do you like waffles?" Axel shouted from downstairs.

"Yeah, we like waffles, please don't make us sing that song. We're coming!" Hope yelled as he and Xion ran for the waffles.

"Uh…hey, Xion. I didn't notice before, but why does your school make you wear those mini-skirts!" Axel said when his siblings came down. Riku was at the table, stuffing his face.

"Xigbar designed the uniforms. Well, that's what Aqua said," Riku said as he swallowed.

"Xigbar! Of all people! He visits my job every freaking day, just to flirt with all the girls who come through! He's as much a pervert as Marluxia's a flamer."

"Speaking of Marluxia, he's the chorus teacher," Xion said as she poured coffee.

"The hell!" Axel yelled.

"Shut up and eat, you have to get to work by 7:40 and its 7:10 now," Riku remarked as he washed his plate.

"Whatever," Axel told him.

"Xion, you know how to make coffee just right! Damn that's good!" Hope said as he drank his coffee.

"Thanks. I'm going to apply for a job at **Starbucks**," Xion said proudly.

"Well, let's go," Riku said as he grabbed their school bags and they left the house.

"Oh, by the way, I need to stop by the candy store. I'm out of gum. I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Riku said after Hope closed the door.

"Okay, but be careful," Hope said as he turned to Xion. "It's pretty early. We can take our time."

"Okay. Later, Riku!"

"See ya."

~Two blocks later~

"Xion, don't look now, spoon-head is right over there."

"What? Oh, shit! We can't go another way, there are no intersections!"

_If you see him, run the other way._ Naminé's words echoed through Xion and Hope's minds. They thought back to how he tried to attack. Neliel wasn't here to help them now.

"Hello. You're alone," Nnoitora said, grinning wickedly.

"Um…hi. Can we just get through? We need to get to school—"

"What's the hurry? It's early, Shorty."

"Don't call my brother short!"

"I don't fight girls. Neliel's an exception."

"Can you let us pass, please?" Hope nearly begged.

"Will you fight?"

"Uh…" _I'm screwed!_

"Leave them alone, Spoon-head! Only cowards pick on those weaker than themselves. Since when were you a coward, Nnoitora?"

"Zidane!" Xion and Hope said in disbelief.

"I'll distract him."

"Are you crazy? Did you see Neliel's scar! He gave her that!" Xion whispered.

"I'm just gonna stall. It's easy!"

"I hope you know what you're doing," Hope muttered as he and Xion ran.

~a few blocks later~

"Hi!" yelled Sora.

"Sora, does Zidane stand a chance against Nnoitora?" Xion asked, panicked.

"Not at all, why?" Aqua replied.

"He's trying to stall Nnoitora," Hope seemed to be more worried than before.

"Oh, crap! We have to go back for him, now!" Terra yelled.

"Follow me!"

"I hope Zidane's okay. I don't know him, but Nnoitora loves to mutilate people," Nel said.

They ran back in the direction of Nnoitora, only to find Zidane trying to dodge Nnoitora's knife. Zidane's arms were covered in deep, bloody gashes. Nel pounced in Nnoitora's direction and pinned him to a wall.

"Nnoitora!" she hissed.

"Yo. It's fun to beat the crap out of him, you should try it some time," Nnoitora said with a wicked grin.

"Why you—"

"What's wrong; PMS-ing or something?" Nnoitora laughed maniacally.

"What!" Nel's anger was clearly growing.

"Zidane, let's get to school. Retsu will take care of your injuries," Ventus said, the cheerful tone in his voice was gone for once. He helped Zidane up, now realizing Zidane's legs were cut, too. He helped Zidane walk the rest of the way.

"My goodness! Who did this to you!" Retsu asked as she looked at Zidane.

"We ran into Nnoitora, and Zidane told us to let him stall. We didn't think he'd get hurt like this," Xion said.

"I need to have a 'talk' with Nnoitora. You must be Hope's sister," Retsu said. She walked over to Xion and whispered "How are things with Roxas going? Have you two kissed yet?"

Xion's face turned bright red. "What! I wish. Wait, how did you know I like him?" she gasped. "Hope!"

"Sorry!" Hope said as he hid behind Zidane.

"Zidane, you lost a lot of blood. You'll have to spend a few hours in here, for your health."

"Fine. Let me just text Bartz. He worries about his friends- a lot!" Zidane pulled out his phone and began texting. About 5 seconds later, Bartz ran in.

"Zidane! Holy—what did he do to you! All that blood—guh!" Bartz was pretty creeped out by all the blood.

"It' not as bad as it looks, calm down. I barely feel a thing! I'm just a bit dizzy."

"Um…that's from too much blood loss. You might want to take a nap," Retsu said as she cleared a bed for Zidane to lie on.

"Okay," he said and lied down. He fell asleep in 2 seconds flat.

"Impressive. Oh, by the way, what happened to Vanitas?" Xion said.

"Well, he got suspended. He was locked in the torture room—yes, we have a torture room—all night, he was so happy to get out of there, and now Cloud's watching him. I think Tifa is there, too," Roxas explained.

"What was the torture?" Xion asked.

"I saw it. It was awful! He was forced to watch Barney and Glee and 90210 and Gilmore Girls in a room of Beiber posters!" Hope exclaimed. "Knowing Vanitas, I'm surprised that he survived!" **(the torture room was designed specifically for Vanitas, his dark personality causes him to be tortured by those things, though Beiber scares everyone, that was the secret weapon mentioned in chapter 1)**

"That's awful, even for a monster like him!" Xion replied.

"I designed the torture room! Lightning did most of the work; I just said what shows to put on!" Roxas said proudly.

"You should all get to class. It's 3rd period already," Retsu said as she looked out the window.

"We missed Hojo's class!" Sora, Roxas, and Ventus exclaimed. "Yay!"

"Let's get to ELA, Lt. Hawkeye will understand why we're late," Kairi said as she walked out the door.

~3rd period ELA~

"So you're late because Nnoitora hurt your friend? Okay, here's the poem and packet. Same groups as yesterday; go."

"Yes m'am!" Hope said and at down with Emma, Vanessa, and Raquel.

"We're reading 'Spirits of the Dead' by Edgar Allan Poe. It's such a good poem!" said Raquel.

Uneventful class. The rest of the day was uneventful. Lunch was quiet. P.E. consisted of dodge-ball. History involved reading about the witch trials. Math was factoring completely. Basically, nothing happened.

"I'm bored! So freaking bored! Cloud, I want a sammich!" Vanitas growled.

"Make a sammich yourself, you're punished!" Cloud replied as he played on the Wii with Tifa.

"Respect your brother and do things for yourself, that's the only way to survive," Tifa said as she beat Cloud for the 15th time in a row.

"Whatever, I'll just starve."

"And how long will it be before you crack?" Tifa replied sternly.

"Don't underestimate me."

"Whatever. You hurt someone and got caught, I can get away with hurting people; I have a good reason to underestimate you."

"Shut up you—"

"Watch your temper, Vanitas!" Cloud cut off.

"Shut up!" Vanitas lost his temper and charged at his older brother.

"You're still weak," Cloud spoke calmly as he blocked his brother's punch.

"Tch," Vanitas angrily stormed back into his room and slammed the door.

"What are you gonna do with him? I'm already sick of his attitude," Tifa said as she looked where Vanitas had just been standing. "How did he end up the only one with a bad attitude? You and the others have such pure hearts, but Vanitas on the other hand…he's all darkness."

"Strange, huh?" was all Cloud said.

"Man! I haven't seen Hope or Light or the others for a while, I hope Xion, Riku, and Hope are happy. Come to think of it, I haven't heard from Axel in a while…" Snow mused. He was sitting alone, waiting for Serah's call.

"Hey, Snow," Said a familiar voice.

"What the—Sazh! Long time no see! How are the chocobos?" Snow said, glad to see his friend.

"Dajh is taking care of them right now. He said I needed a break. Called me an old man!"

"You're not _that_ old!" Snow laughed. "So why are you here? There's nothing here."

"I could ask you the same," Sazh said with a smile.

"It's nice and quiet around here, it helps me think," Snow said as he stared at the sky.

"You mean to tell me that _you_ actually _think_?" Sazh laughed.

"Wha—oh, real funny!" He said and they both laughed.

Another cliché "laughing as screen fades" scene.

"Zidane, you're sure you're okay? Positive? 100% sure?"

"I'm fine, please just stop asking! Please, Xion!"

"But…it's because of me and Hope that you're hurt…"

"Who cares? And has Vanitas been hanging around Nnoitora? That would explain a lot."

"No, he hasn't been. Though, he _has_ been hanging around Grimmjow, who's _almost_ as bad," Sora replied. "Grimmjow only hurts those who did something to him. Nnoitora hurts whoever he wants."

"So…if someone is on Grimmjow's good side, he'll help them?" Zidane asked.

"Possibly. He's pretty unpredictable. Though, he'll protect someone if he wants to be the one to take them down," Sora said. "He's pretty strange."

"Does he care if anyone in his group gets hurt?" Hope asked.

"Nope. I've seen them get into fights and Grimmjow's friends get hurt, he never even glanced their way," said Naminé.

"Grimmjow is one strange person," Said Xion.

"What'd you say 'bout me!" said a harsh voice.

"Uh…I said 'Grimmjow is one…smart person!' Yeah, that's what I said," she said, a bit scared. _We're in school, he wouldn't hurt me, Eraqus-sensei is right there!_

"I know you didn't say that! 'Strange' am I? When I'm through with you, your injuries will be the only 'strange' thing around here!" Grimmjow growled as he walked toward her.

"Leave her alone!" Roxas said as he stood in front of Xion. _I will freaking kill him if he hurts Xion!_

"Outta my way!" Grimmjow lifted his fist to punch Roxas.

"Grimmjow, leave them alone. You must control yourself," Eraqus-sensei had caught Grimmjow's punch before it could hit Roxas.

"Tch…" Grimmjow walked away.

"Thank you very much!" Xion said.

"No thanks needed. I was just doing what was right. Terra, please make sure Grimmjow doesn't bother them. You're strong and responsible, quite trustworthy."

"Yes, sensei," Terra replied.

"Ventus, how were you hurt so badly?"

"Vanitas got angry at me."

"I see. I must talk with him when he returns," Eraqus said, but the way he spoke had a strange (but very slight) tone to it, only Hope noticed it.

_He seemed…suspicious …of Ventus. Why? _Hope wondered as Eraqus-sensei walked away.

~walking to Sora's house (now a daily routine for the group)~

"Let's stop by the café before we go home. It has really good pies and stuff!" said Ventus.

"Sure, I'll pay, seeing that I'm the only one who actually _saves_ my allowances—Hey! I'm missing a twenty!" Roxas exclaimed.

"Hah! Am I a good thief or what! You should've seen the look on your face…bwa ha ha!" Zidane burst out laughing.

"Give me my money!" Roxas yelled as he wrestled Zidane for it.

"Wanna leave them here? Me and Hope have money," Xion smiled.

"We have money, too. Me and Naminé both have $80," Said Kairi. Naminé smiled as she held up 4 twenties.

"I've got $120," Aqua said proudly.

"$30," Terra mumbled.

"$20," Sora sadly looked in his wallet.

"$40," Ven said.

"$85," Hope grinned.

"$8_6_," Xion giggled.

"$125!" Roxas yelled as he tried to get the $20 from Zidane.

"$48 with his $20!" Zidane struggled to say as he held on to the money.

"$40," Riku grumbled. "Less than my younger siblings…"

"Wow," Naminé giggled.

They walked to the café. It was called "XIII Café" ***I just made that up.***

"Welcome to XIII Café…oh, hey guys!" Raquel said when they walked in. She was wearing a blue shirt with a black sweater-dress and black skirt, wearing an apron with "XIII" printed on it.

"You work here?" asked Xion.

"Yeah! I love it here, it always has cool Halloween-like decorations, I had to have a job here! I was so happy when I got the job! Emma and Vanessa work here, too," she rambled. "I'll get you some seats right away! I'll make sure you're served really quick! Follow me," she said as she led them to some fancy couches that had a large table in the middle. Near the couches was the fire-place. "It normally costs more to sit here, but I can do a favor for some friends!" Raquel laughed.

Hope and the others sat on the couches and looked at the menu. 5 minutes after they sat down, Emma came to take their orders. Everyone ordered a slice of pumpkin pie and a cup of coffee. Except Zidane ordered some s'mores , to go with the pie and coffee. There orders were there pretty quickly.

"Wow, Raquel wasn't kidding when she said we'd be served quickly!" Aqua said as Emma put the orders on the table.

"Well, Raquel said it was you, so I was as fast as I could be," Emma said politely as she gave Zidane his s'mores. "Enjoy!"

They finished their food and drinks. It was very delicious. They even got a discount thanks to Raquel. They then headed off to Sora's house. Just as Ventus opened the door, Vanitas knocked him over and ran.

"Vanitas! Get back here!" Cloud yelled as he and Tifa ran out to chase him.

"I'll come back when I wanna!" Vanitas was no longer in sight.

"The hell just happened!" Axel asked as he walked by. He had just gotten there maybe 2 seconds after Sora and company did.

"I'm not sure, but I think Vanitas ran away from home," Sora looked in the direction his brother had disappeared in.

"You think Cloud and Tifa will catch him?" asked Naminé.

"Vanitas knows every available hiding place. Cloud is practically superhuman, same goes for Tifa. There's a 50/50 chance they'll catch him. Wanna place bets?" Sora turned to his friends and brother.

"I know you were trying to lighten the mood, but that didn't help," Said Roxas.

~7:00~

"I can't believe this! He still hasn't been found. It's been 3 hours, where could he have hidden! How could this have happened!" Lightning was pacing the floor. "I can't believe I let him out of my sight!" she turned around. "And you, Cloud. How did this happen under _your _watch!"

"I don't know. I had just gone to the kitchen to throw out a napkin, and Tifa was looking for the remote—"

"Does everything around here come back to the remote? You always involve the remote in your alibis!" Roxas face-palmed himself.

"We can never find the remote; of course things happen while looking for it!" Tifa had just gotten back.

"My brother is missing because of a remote…" Serah moaned. "The remote…"

"He'll come back. Where could he possibly go, right?"

~earlier that day~

"Hello?"

"Hey, Grimmjow. It's me."

"Aren't you grounded?"

"My brother and his girlfriend are looking for the remote."

"Hah! Where did you hide it?"

"I would never hide the remote. I can never find the damn thing!"

"Wow. Why'd you call, anyway?"

"I'm thinking of getting out. You know where I could go?"

"Here, follow this address…"

~the present~ Vanitas' whereabouts~

"Grimmjow? Hello? Anybody here?"

"I'm behind you, Vanitas," Grimmjow replied as he threw something to Vanitas.

"No one ever thinks to look behind them," Vanitas said as he sat on a couch. "What is this place, anyway?"

"It's an old, abandoned house. It's left alone because it's supposedly 'haunted'. Hah! It turns out that it's just the wind and creaky floorboards! Anyway, it still had some furniture, and I turned this place into a secret hideout, in case I ever needed it. Convenient, huh?"

"Yeah. Seems like a nice place, why was it abandoned?" Vanitas asked as he ate the candy Grimmjow had tossed him.

"Previous owner died or something."

"Strange." _It feels like someone else is here…_

"Tell me about it!" Grimmjow laughed.

"How long can I stay here?"

"Until you're found out."

"So you don't care?"

"Why would I mind? After all the things you've done—like the prank on the camping trip 3 years ago—I'm glad to help you!" He flashed a perverted grin at the mention of the prank 3 years ago (the one on Aqua).

~at Sora's house~

"Do you think that Grimmjow has anything to do with this?" asked Naminé.

"What gives you that idea?" asked Kairi.

"Just a feeling." She shook her head. "And there are no coincidences in fate."

~somewhere else~

"Hey, Aerith?"

"Yeah, Zack?" Ms. Gainsborough replied as she fixed the flowers in her vase.

"I heard Cloud's brother-you know, Vanitas- went missing."

"Really? He's nothing but trouble from what I've heard. How does Cloud stand it?"

"I've known him for longer than you, and I _still_ wonder about that!" he laughed.

"Oh, how's Reno? I heard Cloud beat him up."

"You heard wrong. He didn't beat Reno up; he kicked his ass in a match!"

"Match? Like a wrestling match?"

"Sort of. It's not wrestling, you get to use weapons! You don't know? It's become a sport around here recently, about…3 months ago. You should see me fight, I kick ass!" he raised his fist and laughed. "You should've been there! Lightning was amazing, she pwned Angeal _and_ Genesis at the same time, it was awesome!" he was laughing at the memory.

"Well, I think I should watch your matches some time. Remember Vincent Valentine?"

"How could I forget him?"

"It _is_ pretty hard to forget him. Well, he's going to run an after-school club starting tomorrow that teaches weaponry. The students even get to pick their weapons!"

"Is that safe? Or even legal?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

"Oh, how has Vincent been lately? I heard about Lucrecia, Vincent must feel awful…" Aerith looked sadly towards her flowers.

"Yeah, he's been pretty depressed lately. But he'll be fine, I'm sure," Zack seemed less cheerful than usual.

~XIII café~

"Welcome to XIII Café, oh hi, Vincent! The usual?" Raquel said.

"Yeah," a tall man with a red cloak and headband with long hair stood before Raquel.

"Follow me," Raquel led Vincent to a table in the corner, where it was quieter and colder than the other tables.

Emmaline soon came by with a steaming hot coffee and some brownies. "Here you go."

"Thanks," Vincent drank some coffee.

"You seem depressed lately, something wrong?" Emmaline asked. Raquel looked pretty concerned, too.

"I've committed a terrible sin," was all Vincent said.

"What did you do? Though, you do seem different. Your hair is longer, you've got those claw things, and you have that long cloak…" Raquel was examining him.

"It's part of my punishment."

"What?" Emmaline and Raquel asked in unison, but they got no reply.


End file.
